THE ENGLISH WHALERS IO7 



been almost extinguished in the last few decades by the 

 success of the Dutch and German whalers; to such an 

 extent, in fact, that there were only twenty-two English 

 whalers in the Arctic whaling grounds that year, as against 

 several hundred Dutch and German. 



The sailor with the black beard laughed. 'We'll learn 

 in good time, 'Olsteiner, and then your maties'U wish they 

 never let you put foot aboard the Company's decks.' 



There was great truth in the lighthearted banter of the 

 English sailor for in later years, when the keen young 

 English whalemen were to find themselves as proficient 

 as their German teachers they were gradually to displace 

 them. With a government bounty to assist it the EngHsh 

 whaling industry was to flourish and prosper whilst the 

 Dutch industry in particular was to reach a low financial 

 ebb through wars and the heavy harbour dues imposed by 

 its government. It was to decline once more when the 

 bounty system was abolished. By 1825 the American 

 whalers, whose forefathers had been Indian canoes, shore 

 boats and humble little sloops like the Pilgrim, were to 

 attain a prosperity unprecedented in the history of the 

 ancient calling. 



The Holsteiner spat towards the harpoon gun in the 

 boat that now lay moored alongside. 'As for that heap 

 of wood and iron you can throw it into the sea for all the 

 good it will bring you,' he growled. 



His words were as true as those of the English sailor for 

 this first tentative experiment had already proved a 

 failure and as long as men were to pursue the whale in 

 wooden boats the harpoon gun in all its experimental 

 shapes and sizes was to be continually cast aside to make 

 room for the muscular arm of the harpooner. A craft of 

 the size required to carry such a gun could not be readily 

 manoeuvred under sail and oar and it was not until the 

 middle of the nineteenth century when a gun invented by 

 a Norwegian named Svend Foyn coincided with the 



